The short answer is a resounding “NO”! At least not if you are new to marketing online. Not at first. But most everyone dreams of being able to make money doing nothing. And internet marketing can be used to eventually make passive residual income. Residual income is income that continues to be generated after the initial effort has been expended. So, if you work hard and do things right in the beginning, you will continue to earn off of this effort, even long after you have moved on to other things.

Success in internet marketing usually comes very slowly. You could go on for years without seeing any return, but if you are consistent and continue to work at it, you will gradually begin to see the money rolling in. And once this happens, you will see the snowball effect take place and eventually you will be able to make money doing nothing!

So what do you need to work at? You need to bring traffic to whatever it is that you are promoting – to your blog or website or to your affiliate product website. The more people you can get to your website, the more sales you will make.

So what are some of the pros and cons of internet marketing?

First of all, if you prefer to have a regular “guaranteed” paycheck where the amount of time you put in equals the amount of money you receive, internet marketing is probably not for you. If you don’t like to study and learn new things, learning internet marketing is probably not for you. If you need someone else to motivate you or manage your activities, internet marketing is not for you.

One of the most obvious pros of internet marketing is that you don’t have a boss telling you what to do. You work for yourself and make all the decisions. Being able to work whenever and wherever you please is a great goal to shoot for.

Your pay is not an hourly wage or salary so there is no limit to how much money you can make. Let’s say for example that you decide to write your own e-book (it may sound difficult to you now but this is a very attainable goal if you do just a little bit of training). You spend a lot of time on this e-book and then you make money off of the sales for years to come – you just need to make sure that you are driving traffic to the sales page of your e-book.

This is what passive residual income is. . .and it is one of the greatest benefits that internet marketing offers. Putting out or representing a quality product once or twice a year will have a great impact on your income for the months or years, even if you’re not working. Again, that’s how you can make money doing nothing.

In today’s struggling economy, many previously well-off employees with “secure” jobs or retirees have found themselves thrusted into a new reality of income earning difficulty. . .and now they are faced with the dilemma of how to earn cash fast. The internet can make this possible. However, it’s important to keep in mind that, although you can start earning immediately on the internet, if you are new to this type of marketplace, it could take you months to learn enough to really be able to pull in significant profits. This article offers some insight into the various possibilities of making money online.

Get paid for taking surveys:

This is an extremely easy way to bring in some extra income but it won’t pay you much and it does take some time. There are many survey panels out there but Opinion Outpost is one of the legitimate ones that actually pays fairly well for survey takers, generally from about one to ten dollars per survey. Expect to spend from ten to thirty minutes on each survey.

Write articles and/or blog posts:

If you like writing and do it well, you can get paid for your articles and/or blog posts. Two sites that you can get registered with are Associated Content and Helium. They each pay you an amount which is based on how many views your articles receive. If you can find a relatively obscure and interesting topic, you can earn up to $200. Articles on specific topics can even earn direct payments up to about $200. More and more companies are looking for part-time bloggers. You can find some jobs like this posted at The Weblogs Guide.

Get paid for taking pictures: (and no, they don’t have to be professional)

Most people don’t realize that you can actually get paid for taking simple photos of totally mundane things and get paid for them online. Where to these photos go? The end up as stock photography for websites, presentations, brochures and so on. You would be surprised as the images people are looking for and how much they will pay for them. All you need to be sure of is that you don’t include images of trademarked brands, copyrighted art or well known people. Take a decent quality photo and upload it to ShutterStock, Fotolia, Dreamstime or iStockphoto.

The above three suggestions can bring you in some extra cash right away. This next one is another easy way to earn cash fast but you have to put in a little time and effort to set things up.

Set up your own blog:

Start a free blog about something that you are interested and know about at Blogger.com. Blogger automatically adds AdSense ads to your blog and you get paid anytime those ads are clicked on. Just pick a subject that you like, write a post every so often (be consistent), and get traffic to your blog in order to make money.

These are just a few suggestions of the many ways to earn cash fast on the internet. Try them out and pick the ones that fit your personality and schedule.

More and more people want to work from home. And many of you are ending your search with online jobs that generally pay a relatively low wage or salary in exchange for the benefits you receive by working out of the comfort of your own home. When it comes to considering a better income with an actual home business, many of you are intimidated and cautious. How much money do you need to invest? How much technical and/or marketing knowledge do you need? How can you distinguish the scams from the legitimate methods to make money from online business opportunities?

These are all valid concerns and need to be addressed. But the freedom and financial rewards that you can have with an online business, as opposed to working an online job, definitely make it worth your while to at least consider these options.

1. Start a business that sells your expertise. Are you a good writer or designer? Do you have a flair for cooking? Do you love gardening? Do you know a lot about a specific subject? Do your friends and family come to you for advice about certain things? Could you turn your knowledge into a consulting business?

Do some soul searching and think about what you are good at and passionate about. Once you’ve figured that out, do some research on who would want and need your product/service. You’ll then want to set up your own website or blog based on what you’re selling and target it towards who you’re selling it to. Don’t be intimidated by this step! Creating your own site is extremely easy these days and it doesn’t have to be expensive. The next step is to get traffic to your site. And this is a topic for a whole other article because there are so many ways to do this, and many of them are free.

2. If you don’t feel comfortable coming up with your own products or services to market, you can make money from online business products or services that belong to other people. One way to do this is through affiliate marketing.

There are many places you can start to look for things to market, but the most popular sites are ClickBank and Commission Junction. Anytime you make a sale on the products you promote, you are paid commissions. Network Marketing is another route to go if you don’t have your own merchandise.

There are hundreds of Network Marketing companies to choose from and they offer all kinds of products and services. With network marketing, you pay a relatively low fee (this varies from company to company) to get started and then you earn commissions on products/services that you sell as well as on the people you recruit into the company as part of your sales team. The right type of “coaching” mentality is required if you do want to get into network marketing since much of your success will depend on how well you can lead your team.

There are so many ways to make money from online business endeavors – pick one that suits your personality best and get started!

Barbara – About Me

I have been working as a Home Based Accountant for over 10 years now. While I earn a consistent income, I simply can't live the lifestyle I want as I am literally chained to my desk for weekly payrolls, Government Liabilities, and other duties. Even though my work is exclusively performed on a computer I am STILL permanently connected to my desk.

It was always my belief that a person could earn a healthy income online, but over the years I have been let down by programs that promise yet never deliver. Time and again I've bought into a scheme that promises to make me my first $100 before the end of the day . . .Read More…